Under certain rules, an automatic doubling of the value of the game, occurring when both players roll the same number when determining the first move.

Ace-Point Game

A game where a player has two or more checkers on his opponent's ace-point, and the player's hope of winning depends on getting a shot, hitting it, then keeping his hit checker from coming back around. If a player holds a single point in the opponent's board and it's a different point, sometimes it is possible to say it to be playing a "Deuce-point game" or "Three-point game" but these terms are less commonly used.

Advanced Anchor

A made point higher in the opponent's board than the 24-point. In general, advanced anchors are good because (a) they give a player more opportunity to hit the opponent's checkers if he brings them into the players outfield and (b) they give the player a better opportunity to escape his own checkers.

Automatic Doubles

A rule, sometimes used in money play and backgammon chouette and never in match play. When automatic doubles are in effect, if the first roll (where each player rolls one dies) is a double, the cube is turned one level. Sometimes there can be a limit of, say, one or two doubles. This rule has no effect except to increase the stakes at random, which adds to the excitement of gambling for some players.

The phase of the game in which a player brings all his checkers to the opponents inner board. Usually, but not necessarily, this term would be applied when the opponent has at most one point from which he could possibly hit the player.

Beaver offer

A rule commonly used in money play and Chouettes, and never in match play. If an opponent doubles and a player feels he is actually the favorite, he may say "Beaver" and turn the cube an additional level, but he keeps control of the cube. The opponenet may only do this as soon as the player is doubled. Some players allow a "Raccoon" in which if a player calls Beaver, the opponent who doubled can have the cube turned yet again. Beavers are rare, because they require the players to have very different opinions of the current board position. (When the Jacoby Rule is in effect, there are some positions where both a double and a beaver can be theoretically correct.)

Blitz

A game plan where a player hits the opponent aggressively in the inner board, often hitting loose, hoping that before the opponent hits back too many times he would be able to make several points and perhaps even close the opponent out.

The first game in a match wherein one player is within a single point of winning the match. It is in this game that the Crawford rule applies.

Crawford rule

A rule which forbids the doubling cube to be used for the first game after one player has reached a score exactly one point less than the objective score for a match.

Cubeless Equity

The value of a position ignoring the use of the doubling cube. This is a value between -3 and +3 that takes into account the probabilities of either side winning a single game, winning a double game or winning a triple game. If at a given point in the game neither party can make a gammon, the cubeless equity of a player simply is the probability of him/her winning the game, minus the probability of the opponent winning the game.

Closeout position

A position where an opponent has one or more checkers on the bar and a player has made all the points in his inner board, so the opponent can't move. A closed board is when a player has all the points in his inner board made.

A match score expressed in terms of the number of points needed by both sides to win the match. For instance, '2-away/4-away' (or: -2/-4) could indicate the state of seven-point match in which one party has gained five points and the other side three points.

In backgammon the common way of describing the movement of checkers involves numbering the points around the board from 24 to 1 such that the numbers diminish when the checkers move towards the home board. This implies that a reverse numbering applies when the opponent is on roll (with the 24-point now referred to as the 1-point, etc.). A move of a single checker is indicated by the start and the end number separated by a slash. If a move results in a checker being hit, this is indicated by adding an asterisk to the number on which a checker was hit.

One of the twenty-four narrow triangles on the backgammon board where the players' checkers sit, or the value of a single game of backgammon before accounting for the doubling cube, or a gammon or backgammon.

Timing refers to whether a player's position is likely to improve or disintegrate over time. It most commonly refers to being behind in the race when a player would like to maintain his board without crunching while waiting for a shot.